“You by no means know.”
Famously that was right-hander Joaquin Andujar’s favourite phrase in English, since you by no means know what’s going to occur subsequent in baseball. And that is what makes it nice. It is a refined model of Yogi Berra’s “It ain’t over ’til it is over.”
Properly, ACTUALLY. With lower than every week of regular-season video games left in 2026, we all know lots about what’s nonetheless doable — and what is not. Most postseason spots are clinched, and all however two division titles have been received. Most of what is left within the common season is bookkeeping. Even trying to the far-flung way forward for subsequent week, we all know lots about how the postseason will play out.
“You by no means know” is one thing that groups and people say to make themselves really feel higher in determined instances — and whereas it comprises grains of fact, it is solely true to a degree.
The Tampa Bay Rays clinched the AL East at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday evening. The Rays successful the division has been inevitable for some time, particularly with the New York Yankees lacking Aaron Choose for 90-something video games due to a fractured rib and a strained calf muscle. The Yankees, bless ’em, have been adequate to qualify for the AL Wild Card however say that Choose will not be wholesome sufficient to play subsequent week within the Wild Card Sequence.
We have already seen a minimum of one media put up utilizing tortured logic to think about how the Yankees might win with out Choose. It is somewhat like choosing the Chicago Bulls to win the NBA title throughout that season Michael Jordan retired. Mainly the reasoning is: “You by no means know.”
Sure, you do. You already know. The Yankees possibly might win a postseason sequence, however solely as a result of the opposite crew, like many of the American League, stinks. The Yankees ain’t successful no World Sequence with out Aaron Choose. This isn’t to say they need to simply hand over with out their greatest participant. However it’s OK for everybody else to hand over on the Yankees.
Delusions of grandeur are taking place on the Nationwide League facet too. The Chicago Cubs sustained a serious harm Sunday when Alex Bregman was struck within the face with a foul ball whereas standing in (or close to) the on-deck circle. He suffered a number of facial fractures, and seemed like he went 15 rounds with Mike Tyson. If not the boxer, a minimum of the center infielder of the identical identify from the Nineteen Seventies.
Early reviews are that Bregman’s imaginative and prescient checks out OK. It might have been lots worse, and there is nonetheless time for that, really, however the Cubs are performing prefer it’s only a flesh wound.
Cubs supervisor Craig Counsell informed reporters Tuesday that Bregman is just not occurring the injured listing and he may even play of their last regular-season weekend sequence earlier than the NL Wild Card spherical begins. Sounds actually optimistic, contemplating how an identical harm occurred to David Fry in 2025 and Giancarlo Stanton in 2014 and so they did not play once more in these seasons.
However the Cubs stand a lot much less of an opportunity with out Bregman within the lineup, so they are going with it.
“I feel Alex goes to be fantastic,” Counsell stated.
Hey, you by no means know.
Bregman’s face is damaged! And he is simply going to step again into the batter’s field lower than every week later like nothing occurred? There’s optimism and there is hallucination. Present some respect for actuality, Cubbies. This can be a Mets medical employees placing a concussion sufferer on an airplane-level dangerous concept.
Yogi saying “It ain’t over ’til it is over,” and Andujar updating it was usually good for baseball. However that is Quirky Saying Abuse (QSA). Not all truisms are true the entire time.
Typically, it is proper to only say: “It is over.”
